ABC Vancouver’s dominance is fading. Can the city’s fractured left, or a new centrist movement, seize the moment?

The photo above taken from ABC Vancouver current website, sans the inclusion of Lisa Dominato, while including Rebecca Bligh, who was summarily dismissed from the party on February 14th of this year.

In 2022, Ken Sim’s ABC Vancouver party swept into office with an historic landslide. Running seven candidates for City Council, and Ken Sim for Mayor, they won every seat on City Council they hoped to win, winning six of seven seats on Vancouver Park Board, and a majority on Vancouver School Board, promising common-sense government, a laser focus on public safety, and quicker housing approvals.

But with just 14 months to go until the next election, voters are asking …

The 42nd Vancouver municipal election, scheduled for October 17, 2026, is shaping up to be a political reckoning. With Ken Sim’s approval ratings plummeting, discontent brewing across the city, and ABC’s tight grip on power loosening, the stage is set for a dramatic shift at Vancouver City Hall.

Sim, once seen as a unifying figure, is now struggling to defend an agenda that many feel has fallen short. His decision to dissolve the elected Park Board — a move even former supporters called authoritarian — sparked public backlash and legal wrangling. His housing policies, largely perceived as developer-friendly, haven’t improved affordability. And his law-and-order push has drawn criticism for sidelining mental health support.

Now, his former campaign manager and chief strategist, Kareem Allam, is turning on him — and starting a new party to challenge ABC’s dominance.

Enter the Vancouver Liberals

Allam’s departure from City Hall was barely cold when he launched the Vancouver Liberals, a new municipal party aiming to fill what he calls a “common-sense, centrist vacuum.”

A political strategist with a spotless electoral record, Allam hasn’t lost a campaign he’s managed. His new party could pull in disillusioned ABC supporters, business-friendly moderates, as well as progressives, given the pivotal role Allam played in helping British Columbia’s New Democrats form government following the 2025 provincial election.

If Allam’s slate is credible and his message resonates, the Vancouver Liberals could do more than just act as spoilers. They might end up forming the next civic government at Vancouver City Hall — or, at the very least, hold the balance of power.

A Fractured Left with a Chance

All of this presents a major opportunity for Vancouver’s progressive parties — if they don’t trip over each other first.

The Greens, now reduced to a single Councillor in Pete Fry, were hit hard by the retirement of Adriane Carr earlier this year. But with strong roots in neighbourhood planning and environmental policy, they remain viable in eco-conscious areas like Kitsilano and Grandview-Woodland.

OneCity Vancouver, meanwhile, may be poised for a breakout. Their only sitting Councillor, Lucy Maloney, won a 2025 by-election following the resignation of Christine Boyle, who successfully ran for MLA and now serves in Premier David Eby’s Cabinet as Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs.

With Boyle’s higher profile lending the party fresh legitimacy, and housing remaining the city’s top concern, OneCity could expand its presence if it runs a focused, well-co-ordinated campaign.

Then there’s COPE, once written off as a political relic. But in the April 2025 by-election, long-time anti-poverty activist Sean Orr won handily, topping the polls. His unapologetically populist, tenant-first platform connected with voters — especially across Vancouver’s Eastside and among younger renters.

Don’t count them out. If COPE runs a strong ground game, they could snag another two or three seats.

TEAM’s Second Wind?

On the centre-right, TEAM for a Livable Vancouver, led by former Councillor Colleen Hardwick, is regrouping after a total wipeout in 2022. Armed with more funding, refined messaging, and a neighbourhood-first approach, they may have a shot with homeowners uneasy about the city’s rapid development.

But TEAM’s challenge is two-fold: distancing itself from conspiratorial politics and defining what a “livable Vancouver” actually means to voters across the city, in language Vancouver voters can better hear and process.

The Big Issues That Must Be Addressed in the 2026 Vancouver Civic Election

Housing will dominate this election. Rents remain sky-high, the vacancy rate is low, and voters — especially renters and young families — are frustrated with the status quo. Despite ABC’s promises, the housing crisis has only deepened.

Public safety is also a flashpoint. The ABC administration’s heavy emphasis on policing has stirred debate, especially from those calling for more mental health funding and community-led solutions.

And climate? The clock is ticking. Extreme weather events — atmospheric rivers, heat domes — are now routine. Voters want real infrastructure investment and green planning, not slogans.

Labour’s Role and the Path to Power

The Vancouver & District Labour Council (VDLC) will again play a crucial role. The VDLC’s endorsement often determines who gets the progressive vote and which campaigns get boots on the ground.

If it can unite OneCity, the Greens, and COPE behind a shared slate, a progressive majority is possible. But if those parties divide the vote — as they often have in the past — the advantage goes to whichever centrist party has momentum.

Right now, that may be Kareem Allam’s Vancouver Liberals.

With less than 14 months to go, the outcome is far from certain. ABC Vancouver is in decline, its dominance shattered. OneCity and COPE are rising. TEAM is regrouping. And the Vancouver Liberals are storming into the race with the backing of one of the city’s sharpest political operatives.

What happens next depends on whether the left can co-operate, whether voters are ready for a centrist alternative, and whether Ken Sim can salvage his legacy.

But one thing is clear: after four years of single-party rule, Vancouver is ready for change.

On July 22nd, well respected Vancouver City Manager Paul Mochrie “stepped down” from his post, after serving more than four years in the job.

Paul Mochrie, former City Manager in the City of Vancouver (Ben Nelms/CBC)

Said Mayor Ken Sim upon announcing the news …

“We thank Paul for his 14 years of dedicated service, including the last four as City Manager, and wish him nothing but success in the future.”

So, what led up to Mr. Mochrie’s untimely departure from Vancouver City Hall?

VanRamblings’ sources tell us in order to achieve a 0% property tax increase this upcoming December, in the lead up to the 2026 Vancouver municipal election, Mayor Ken Sim has decided the only way to achieve that balmy goal will be to fire as many Vancouver City Hall unionized CUPE workers as will be necessary.

Mayor Sim realizes that the voting public in our city is none-too-pleased with a cumulative property tax increase of 22.1% — not compounded — in his first three years in power, the highest property tax increase of any city in Metro Vancouver.

An aside (for which feature of our writing, VanRamblings is justly renowned).

Kareem Allam, former Chief of Staff to Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim

Early in his term of office, Mayor Sim had called his then Chief of Staff — Kareem Allam — into his office, telling Mr. Allam that he had come up with an “innovative solution” to not charging one red cent in property tax to beleaguered Vancouver home owners during his term in power. Mayor Sim told his Chief of Staff that during his tenure as Mayor by, in a methodical manner, selling off a number of parks / not parks in our city each year — the 142 parks in Vancouver that are not officially designated as parks — and by selling off large chunks of city owned properties in our city’s much ballyhooed Property Endowment Fund (approximately $3 billion), he could achieve his dream goal of an ongoing 0% property tax increase.

Poor Kareem Allam, who set about to explain to Mayor Ken Sim and the Mayor’s senior advisor, David Grewal — the two men who had dreamed up this nefarious scheme — that there are any number of municipal, provincial and federal legislative impediments to the City of Vancouver undertaking such a venture, as he set about to elucidate chapter and verse what governing legislation would prevent the Mayor from carrying out his unworkable and villainous plan.

Shortly thereafter, Mr. Allam “resigned” as the Mayor’s Chief of Staff.

On that February 6th day of 2023 leading up to Kareem Allam leaving the employ of the City, one of our sources at City Hall called us, saying “I’m standing outside the Mayor’s office. Listen …” as s/he held up the phone, upon which VanRamblings heard a protracted screaming match between what sounded like the Mayor and his Chief of Staff. Mr. Allam left the employ of the Mayor’s office immediately.

What is old is new again.

A thoughtful and pensive Paul Mochrie. Gone but not forgotten.

Just prior to his leave taking from the city, Mayor Ken Sim called Paul Mochrie into his office, to instruct Mr. Mochrie that he must fire the necessary number of City Hall CUPE workers in order that the Mayor’s party, ABC Vancouver, might achieve its desired goal of a 0% property tax increase this upcoming December.

The inevitable outcome of Mayor Ken Sim’s plan to mass fire CUPE employees

Paul Mochrie blanched at the words he was hearing uttered from the mouth of Vancouver’s Mayor, stating, “I couldn’t do that,” to which Mayor Sim — in his most Trumpian manner — replied, “You work for me! You do what I tell you to do”, with Mr. Mochrie replying, “With all due respect, I work for the people of Vancouver.”

A now furious Ken Sim yelled at Paul Mochrie, “If you won’t do it, I’ll find someone who will!” It was at this point, our none-too-stable (nor bright), nor sophisticated Mayor unceremoniously fired a flustered Paul Mochrie, bringing to a close Mr. Mochrie’s 14 years of loyal service to the city, and its grateful citizens.

ABC Vancouver then set about to locate and hire a new City Manager.

And lickety split they did, only 9 days after Paul Mochrie’s abrupt leave taking.

Vancouver City Council selected Delta’s Donny van Dyk as its new City Manager on July 31, 2025

Said Mayor Ken Sim of the city’s new hire …

“Donny brings a results-driven mindset and a strong mix of public and private sector experience that will help us deliver real, tangible outcomes for Vancouverites,” said Sim. “Donny’s proven ability to deliver practical results makes him the right person to lead the implementation of Council’s ambitious agenda.”

VanRamblings is told that Mr. van Dyk, as competent and skilled as he might be, finds himself decidedly on the “conservative” side of the political spectrum, and given his right of centre politics and orientation to city government would seem to possess no compunction in acting as Mayor Ken Sim’s hatchet man, towards fulfilling the Mayor’s goal of a 0% property tax increase this upcoming December.

To that end, Mr. van Dyk — no fool, he — negotiated a salary of $450,000 for his services, an increase of $57,000 over what Paul Mochrie was being paid, and further that Mr. van Dyk, knowing how unlikely it is that Mayor Ken Sim will be elected to a second term, negotiated a severance package, we are told, that is double his $450,000 salary. So, let’s review that untoward circumstance in economic terms.

Although the Mayor’s office has not announced the serverance package that Paul Mochrie will receive, as a reference point, we might consider what Dr. Penny Ballem, City Manager under Vision Vancouver, received when she left the employ of City Hall on September 14, 2015 — that would be $565,000. One can reasonably expect that Mr. Mochrie’s severance package will, at the very least, be on par with that of Dr. Ballem, given Mr. Mochrie’s long years of service to the city.

What then has Ken Sim, the Mayor of the City of Vancouver, wrought financially in the upper echelons of administrative governance at Vancouver City Hall?

By the time Donny van Dyk leaves the employ of Vancouver in November, 2026, when a new Mayor and Council will be seated, he will have earned $1.35 million, for you know with near certainty the next Council will want its own City Manager.

Add to that, let’s say conservatively, a further $565,000 for Paul Mochrie’s severance package, and you are left with an outrageously and fiscally irresponsible total expenditure for Vancouver’s City Manager(s) of just shy of two million dollars, when if Mr. Mochrie had been left in place, the bill to the city would amount to “only” $393,000, Paul Mochrie’s outgoing salary — or one fifth of $2 million.

For someone who is a certified professional accountant — that would be Mayor Ken Sim, who ought to know better — over the course of 15 months, to reiterate, the City of Vancouver will have expended near $2,000,000 (!) in payment / salary / severance packages to 2 individuals holding the role of Vancouver City Manager.

Surely the electorate and the citizens of Vancouver will be rightly outraged!

Charismatic, achingly articulate and eloquent in a way we have never experienced in a member of Vancouver’s political class seeking municipal office, a bold, historic, near revolutionary and unapologetically progressive political figure who represents a generational shift in our civic politics, who also possesses a vigorous commitment to fiscal prudence, and the next Mayor of the City of Vancouver come the evening of Saturday, October 17th, 2026: Kareem Allam, a transformative leader for our times who will modernize city government with an emphasis on inclusion and democratic engagement that will well serve your family’s interests.

Kareem Allam, the next Mayor of Vancouver

“Whether you’re on the left or on the right, as a citizen of Vancouver you have the right to expect service from your municipal government, clean streets, beautiful boulevards, ready access to City Hall, low taxes and a responsive and responsible civic government that will always put you first,” Kareem Allam recently told VanRamblings.

“In my first term of office, I commit to hiring 400 CUPE workers to provide service to all the people who call Vancouver home, while also conducting a core review of city programmes. In 2004, the city of Vancouver had 2000 employees in our civic government. Today that figure is 9500, and growing. Just last year, the City of Vancouver hired 900 middle management, “excluded” employees. In 2016, soon after he was appointed City Manager, Sadhu Johnston in his first year in that role hired 1100 highly paid “excluded” management employees. Civic governance in our city has grown unwieldy over the past 20 years, an issue in these punishing economic times that must be addressed, but in a humane and strategically compassionate manner.”

Today’s VanRamblings column is meant to give you a brief introduction to Kareem Allam, a well schooled political strategist who has never lost a race he has run, who will out raise every other party seeking office in Vancouver in 2026, has seemingly garnered the endorsement of the Vancouver & District Labour Council — although there is an active movement being led to unseat current VDLC President Stephen von Sychowski that, if successful, could throw a kink into the works respecting Mr. Allam’s political ambitions — as well as the provincial New Democratic Party which, although they will not formally endorse Mr. Allam (provincial governments do not interfere in municipal electoral politics) will make it abundantly clear that Kareem Mahmoud Abbas Allam is their preferred candidate for Mayor of Vancouver in 2026.

(Note: Mr. Allam formally endorsed and worked hard to re-elect the David Eby led New Democratic Party in 2024, bringing an energy to the almost moribund provincial NDP campaign that prior to his involvement found itself on a losing track)

Apparently, OneCity Vancouver and the Green Party of Vancouver, in the days to come, will formally endorse Kareem Allam for Mayor of Vancouver. At this point in time, COPE is less certain of its support for Mr. Allam, but these are still early days.

In the time to come you will see that Kareem Allam is Vancouver’s Sadiq Khan, the popular Mayor of London, since 2016 — the first Muslim Mayor of a major western capital city. Naheed Nenshi, the most popular Mayor in Canadian history, who throughout his three terms in office as Calgary’s transformative Mayor was celebrated with approval ratings consistently above 80%. Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for Mayor of New York City, representing a generational shift in American politics, and a bold voice for change in the interests of everyday working people, over corporate interests and the political elite. Barack Hussein Obama, the most eloquent orator of his generation, and one of the most inspirational and consequential figures of the 21st century, and the coolest President in modern history, highlighted by his composure, charisma, and cultural fluency. And Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West, who has consistently kept property tax increases in his city to under 2%, while building social housing and community centres to serve families and the interests of the public, the first Mayor in our region to ensure that potholes are filled in the early spring, and unlike every other Metro Vancouver city, has succeeded in providing the services PoCo residents have now come to expect.

With the next Vancouver civic election 423 days away, VanRamblings will have ample opportunity to present a broader picture of Kareem Allam, and why it is we are endorsing his candidacy for Mayor of Vancouver, our halcyon city by the sea.